John Carman McClelland (September 22, 1951 – June 1, 2022) was a Canadian politician in
Ontario
Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
. He was a
Liberal member of the
Legislative Assembly of Ontario
The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA; ) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly are given royal as ...
from 1987 to 1995 who represented the riding of
Brampton North. He was subsequently an unsuccessful
Progressive Conservative candidate in the
2007 provincial election.
In July 2018, he announced candidacy for Ward 1 & 5 Regional councillor from Brampton in the
2018 municipal election.
Background
McClelland was born in
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...
and moved to Canada at a young age, where he received a
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
degree from
York University
York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...
and a law degree from the
University of Windsor
The University of Windsor (UWindsor, U of W, or UWin) is a public university, public research university in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's southernmost university. It has approximately 17,500 students. The university was incorporated by ...
.
[ After graduation, he practiced law as an associate at the firm of Fogler, Rubinoff, Toronto. He was also a board member of the ''Canadian Council of Christian Charities''.
]
Politics
McClelland ran for the Ontario legislature in the general election of 1977, losing to New Democrat
New Democrats may refer to:
* New Democratic Party, a social democratic party in Canada
* New Democrats (United States), the ideological centrist faction of the Democratic Party
** New Democrat Coalition, the related caucus in the United States H ...
(NDP) Ted Bounsall by over 3,500 votes in Windsor—Sandwich. The next year, McClelland narrowly lost the race for a seat on the Windsor Board of Education representing Ward 1. In 1980, he was appointed a board member for Ward 1 after the death of trustee Donald Hill, but was again narrowly defeated in the general election that November. He did not seek office again until the 1987 provincial election, when he was easily elected in Brampton North as part of a Liberal landslide victory
A landslide victory is an election result in which the winning Candidate#Candidates in elections, candidate or political party, party achieves a decisive victory by an overwhelming margin, securing a very large majority of votes or seats far beyo ...
. McClelland served as a backbench supporter of David Peterson
David Robert Peterson (born December 28, 1943) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 20th premier of Ontario from 1985 to 1990. He was the first Liberal officeholder in 42 years, ending the so-called Tory dynasty.
Back ...
's government for the next three years.
Prior to the 1990 election, McClelland was challenged for the Liberal nomination in his riding by the representative of a group which claimed the Peterson government had made insufficient outreach efforts to Ontario's Sikh
Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...
community. He won the nomination challenge, and went on to defeat NDP challenger John Devries by only 98 votes in the general election. The Liberals were upset by the NDP provincially, and McClelland moved to the opposition benches for the next five years. In 1993, he brought forward a private member's bill
A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in wh ...
dealing with the possibility of electoral recall.
The Progressive Conservatives won a majority government in the 1995 Ontario election, and McClelland lost to PC candidate Joe Spina by 5,348 votes.
In 2007, McClelland changed parties and was the PC candidate for the riding of Brampton—Springdale in the 2007 Ontario election, but lost to the Liberal candidate Linda Jeffrey by nearly 7,000 votes.
Return to legal practice
In 1995, he resumed his legal practice and was a member and VP of the Peel
Peel or Peeling may refer to:
Places Australia
* Peel (Western Australia)
* Peel, New South Wales
* Peel River (New South Wales)
Canada
* Peel Parish, New Brunswick
* Peel, New Brunswick, an unincorporated community in Peel Parish
* Pee ...
Law Association Executive Committee. He has also been President (2008–2009) of the Brampton Board of Trade. In May 2015, the Law Society of Upper Canada
The Law Society of Ontario (LSO; ) is the law society responsible for the self-regulation of lawyers and paralegals in the Canadian province of Ontario. Founded in 1797 as the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC; ), its name was changed by statu ...
suspended McClelland for mishandling the finances of several clients including some family members.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:McClelland, Carman
1951 births
2022 deaths
Ontario Liberal Party MPPs
University of Windsor alumni
York University alumni
University of Windsor Faculty of Law alumni
20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario